SeaLand 'Data Haven' is For Sale

SeaLand, the oil platform in the North Sea that was famously converted into a colocation data haven, is for sale. SeaLand, a former anti-aircraft platform perched on two concrete towers 8 miles off the coast of England, was featured in a Wired cover story in 2000 when investors turned it into a colo facility for web sites seeking to locate outside any government jurisdiction. Entrepreneur Roy Bates took control of the facility in 1965 and declared it the Principality of Sealand, a sovereign nation (and convenient tax haven).

The colocation operation fell on hard times after the dot com crash, and last year SeaLand was badly damaged in a fire. While there were many challenges to maintaining a data center in the middle of the ocean, the lack of a nearby fire department proved one of the facility's most serious shortcomings. Link via Slashdot.